The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-01-15

| scAs.> ~ sssS s~0eO~s6, SvOkSost AoS
Texas Railroad in said State, have
been served with notices to appear Al
: the Offices Of the company aud pay 81. 81
per acre for said lands, or within I
prescribed time to be evicted from ths
same.
The Governor also states that thu
people do not know whether the roaG
is in condition to make valid title Il
said lands, and he therefore asks to bt
informed al as early day as possible
so that he may answer the people in
teiligently, whether or not the grant
has been confirmed and whether the
occupants of said lands would be safe
in purchasing from the company.
In reply, have the honor to repor,
that by act IF Congress approved June
g, 1856, III Stat. 1s), grant of lands
was made to the State of Louisiana 10
aid in the construction of a railroad
from the Texas State line, west OF the
town of Greenwood, via Greenwood,
shreveport and Monroe, to point on
the Mississippi river, opposite the city
of Vicksburg.
| The Legislature OF the State author,
lied the Vicksburg, Shreveport and
Texas Railroad Company to construct
said road, and 20 aid in such construct.
ion granted to said company the lands
granted TO the State by the act OF 1856.
The grant In question is now claimed
by the VIcksburg, Shreveport and
Pacific Railroad Company, as success
! sor to the Vicksburg, Shreveport and
Texas Railroad Company.
Within the time prescribed by the
! act of 1856, the Vicksburg, Shreveport
aud Texas Railroad Company complex
ted 81 miles Of its roads, towit: "a
miles, extending from Vicksburg TO
Monroe, and 20 miles extending from
the Texes line to Shreveport, and
since the expiration of such time the
Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific
Railroad Company has completed the
| remaining sc miles between Shreve.
port and Monroe, so that the entire
road from the Mississ ippi river to the
Texas b oundary is now completed aud
in operation.
During the year 1859, before the
completion OF any portion Of the road,
the greater portion Of the vacant
unappropriated lands in the old mum.
bered sections within the limits o: the
grant, amounting to 1853, 3,2l2.6S acres,
were approved to the State for the
benefit Of the road, and in 1874 such
of the lands approved In 1859 as were
coterminous with the portions of the
road then completed were again ap.
proved to the State.
The act OF 1856 authorized the State
to sell 100 sections OF the lands granted
and when the Governor of the State
should certify to the completion Of
twenty miles of road, to sell an addi-
tional 120 sections, and so from time
to time until the entire road was COM
pleted, and it was provided that in
case said road should not be completed
within ten years, no further sale should
be made and the unsold lands should
revert to the United States.
AS the completion of the entire road
has been certified to by the Governor,
the company would appear to be in
position to sell, unless its failure to
complete portion of its road within
the time prescribed by the granting
act has resulted in the reversion Of the
lands, or If not actually in a reverston,
in the cessation of its right to sell.
In the case of Schulenburg w. Harri.
man (2l Wall. 44) the Supreme Court
of the United States, in constituting u
grant to the State of Wisconsin, identi.
cal in its terms to the one under con-
sderation, held that Ihe provision that
the lands unsold should revert to the
United States If the road be not COM
p!eted within ten years was 40 more
than a provision that the grant should
be void If condition subsequent be
not performed; that no one can take
advantage of breach OF condition
subsequent annexed to a present grant
but the grantor, and that as no action
had been taken either by legislation or
judicial proceedings had by authority
of law to enforce forfeiture of the
estate granted "he title remains,
therefore, in the State as completely as
it existed on the day when the title by
location of the route Of the railroad ac-
quired precision and became attached
to the adjoining alternate sections"
With reference TO the right to sell
the court say that the prohibition
against further sales adds nothing to
the force of the provision that ga ces-
sation OF sales in that event is implied
in the condition that the lands shall
then revert; if the condition be not
anforced the power to sell continues as
before the breach, limited only by the
objects of the grant and the manner Of
sale PR scribed by the act.
In the case of the Wisconsin Farm
Mortgage Company, - l.. D. SD, in
a r r